HTPC - Gaming audio

I finally decided to get crazy long cables to connect my computer on the home theater system to play games with surround sound. From what I grasped after reading a bit of stuff... there's no way to get 5.1 sound to the receiver unless I get a DDLive/DTSConnect soundcard or I decide to use 3 analog 3.5mm to double RCA connections.

Am I getting that right?

If so, both solutions are possible, I would just like to know which solution is judged to be better and the reasoning behind it. Should I get a DTSConnect compliant Asus Xonar and a long optical cable or just buy 3 3.5mm to double RCA and use my ta890fxe board sound?

My receiver does HDMI... just picture, not audio though... wish I could go back in time haha.

The other option and maybe the best one would be to find an AM3+ motherboard with onboard DTS connect or DDLive... it would set me up for a processor upgrade down the road whereas getting a soundcard is great now, but provides nothing more. Do you know any DTS connect or DD Live AM3+ mobos?

My receiver does HDMI... just picture, not audio though... wish I could go back in time haha.

The other option and maybe the best one would be to find an AM3+ motherboard with onboard DTS connect or DDLive... it would set me up for a processor upgrade down the road whereas getting a soundcard is great now, but provides nothing more. Do you know any DTS connect or DD Live AM3+ mobos?

Thank you

You sure about that? What receiver do you have?

Nah, don't screw around with onboard audio. getting a sound card is just fine.

Digital pass-through is digital pass-through, using onboard audio to do it is no more "screwing around" than using GPU (HDMI) or soundcard, they all share the same licensed encoders. The cheapest Xonars don't support DDLive but then nor do the cheapest mobo's. Asus state which boards specifically have DTS-Connect/Ultra PC, Gigabyte is vague (Dolby Home Theatre?) and I've not checked the others. If you were getting a new board in the range that supports DDLive or DTS-Connect I'm not sure it's worth adding a soundcard.

You could also add a USB device to the list, Xonar U3 for example supports DDLive over TOSLINK, I think it's cheaper than the other Xonars that support DDLive/DTS_Connect (Xonar D1 is the lowest?) if all you wanted was the digital live encoder and weren't really fussed about other features.

Digital pass-through is digital pass-through, using onboard audio to do it is no more "screwing around" than using GPU (HDMI) or soundcard, they all share the same licensed encoders. The cheapest Xonars don't support DDLive but then nor do the cheapest mobo's. Asus state which boards specifically have DTS-Connect/Ultra PC, Gigabyte is vague (Dolby Home Theatre?) and I've not checked the others. If you were getting a new board in the range that supports DDLive or DTS-Connect I'm not sure it's worth adding a soundcard.

You could also add a USB device to the list, Xonar U3 for example supports DDLive over TOSLINK, I think it's cheaper than the other Xonars that support DDLive/DTS_Connect (Xonar D1 is the lowest?) if all you wanted was the digital live encoder and weren't really fussed about other features.

More specifically I was talking about swapping out mobos JUST for better on board sound.